We constantly hear about carbs and sugars and get a lot of mixed messages about which are good and which are bad. The word sugar covers A LOT! There is white, refined sugar that you buy at the grocery store. There are artifical sugars and sweetners such as aspartame, saccharin and high fructose corn syrup. There are sugars such as fructose, glucose, lactose, and sucrose. There are monosaccharides and disaccharides. This list goes on and on.
Carbs go hand and hand with sugars. When carbohydrates are digested they break down into sugars and enter the blood stream. What the body has to do to break down those carbs into sugars depends on the type of carbohydrate they are. Wheat, rice, barely, corn, potatoes, pasta, and fruits and vegtables all have carbs in them. The amount and type of carbs they have matters when it comes to digestion.
As I have numerous times in this blog, if you haven't already read Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall, I highly suggest you do as it explains this topic in much more detail. I will do my best to give a brief overview here so you can make healthy choices when it comes to carbs and sugars.
Let's start with some basic definitions and information to build on.
When carbohydrates are ingested, the body breaks them down into digestible sugars. Sugars get transferred from our intestines to our bloodstream. There are 3 basic types of sugars in our body.
Monosaccharides - These are also commonly called single sugars and are the most basic unit of carbohydrates. Since they are single sugars, the body does not need to split them when transporting them from the intestines into the bloodstream. Fructose and glucose are monosaccharides. These sugars are commonly found in fruits, honey, and some vegtables.
Disaccharides - These are also commonly called double sugars and are formed from two monosaccharides. Since they are double sugars, they body needs to split them when transporting them from the intestines into the bloodstream. Lactose, Sucrose, and Maltose are disaccharides. These sugars are commonly found in milk (lactose), processed foods and table sugars (sucrose), and candies and corn syrups (maltose).
Polysaccharides - These are also commonly called starch. They are chains of monosaccharides joined together. The structure of these chains can either be branched or linear. There are two types: amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is a linear polysaccharide and Amylopectin is a branched polysaccharide. Amylose polysaccharides are usually easier to digest because of their linear structure. Corn, rice, and sweet potatoes all contain amylopectin starch.
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet only allows only for the intake of monosaccharides because of their ease of digestion. The theory is that monosaccharides are simple sugars that the body can easily digest and absorb without issue. If you have IBD your body may not be able to breakdown complex carbohydrates properly leaving undigested carbs in your gut. This facilitates the growth of harmful gut bacteria and allows it to flourish and overgrow. If we starve that bacteria by eliminating it's food source (complex carbohydrates) it will diet off and your gut will heal.
The key to gut health is to make sure the good bacteria win everyday. That is why diet choices, supplements such as probiotics, and a healthy lifestyle are so important to our bodies. One of the most amazing features of our gut is that it's lining (epithelium) will regenerate itself about every 5-7 days! Think about that! It will regenerate! That is mind blowing to me! It is also, great news! If your gut is in a horrible state, there is hope that you can heal it by changing what you put into it. This is one of main reasons the diet works so quickly for people.
I hope the information in this post has helped give an overview of some of the nutritional science behind the SCD and as well as a better understanding of how our body functions when it comes to the types of carbs and sugars we intake. So ,when it comes to sugars, keep it simple, our body prefers it!
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